The thread title "could" have also been "Help with a concept for work holding or tell me why this is a stupid idea!" lol! But I thought that was too long...
I have a project in mind that needs some short pipe segments (a few dozen for now) with a full radius cut into them. It's thin wall .050 x .75 dia aluminum tube. I only have a lathe so I am trying to maximize what I can get done and do it kinda efficiently to concentrate on other areas of the product.
This is what I am trying to make.
I made these by using my lathe with a four fluted endmill and holding the work piece in a tool post holder but it was slow going and not ideal. I want to move up the efficiency a bit and so I made a holding fixture bolted to a faceplace to see how I like the results. Here is the fixture. I still need to bore a relief hole through the middle but the glue is still drying.
Here is the concept.
I put the 3 inch length in the holder and put the end mill on my QCTP and punch through the middle creating two parts that I will clean up by hand. The tolerance isn't super tight. Let's say it is a kind of decorative drying rack of sorts. I just need clean edges so it looks decent and has the .75 profile.
If my concept is sound...
Where I am getting hung up is on how to hold the pipe section on my fixture. I can locate it! I am imagining a bunch of ways to do that but jeeze, if there are some of you who have done this with success before I am fine not MacGyver-ing up a few attempts that might fail before I figure it out. First thing I'll try if I get laughed out of here is a type of double saddle clamp that I can tighten and hold the two sides so they don't go anywhere when I pierce through. Thanks for any help or info that can get 'er done.
I have a project in mind that needs some short pipe segments (a few dozen for now) with a full radius cut into them. It's thin wall .050 x .75 dia aluminum tube. I only have a lathe so I am trying to maximize what I can get done and do it kinda efficiently to concentrate on other areas of the product.
This is what I am trying to make.
I made these by using my lathe with a four fluted endmill and holding the work piece in a tool post holder but it was slow going and not ideal. I want to move up the efficiency a bit and so I made a holding fixture bolted to a faceplace to see how I like the results. Here is the fixture. I still need to bore a relief hole through the middle but the glue is still drying.
Here is the concept.
I put the 3 inch length in the holder and put the end mill on my QCTP and punch through the middle creating two parts that I will clean up by hand. The tolerance isn't super tight. Let's say it is a kind of decorative drying rack of sorts. I just need clean edges so it looks decent and has the .75 profile.
If my concept is sound...
Where I am getting hung up is on how to hold the pipe section on my fixture. I can locate it! I am imagining a bunch of ways to do that but jeeze, if there are some of you who have done this with success before I am fine not MacGyver-ing up a few attempts that might fail before I figure it out. First thing I'll try if I get laughed out of here is a type of double saddle clamp that I can tighten and hold the two sides so they don't go anywhere when I pierce through. Thanks for any help or info that can get 'er done.